Alton Brown’s Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Here’s the recipe for these incredible, and I do mean incredible, cinnamon rolls.

[Insert 17 paragraphs here about how difficult and exhausting the past three weeks have been. We’re now on week four of this new normal: me working from home while also assuming the role of teacher on top of mommy, wife, head cook and bottle washer. Also insert that I have a really awesome support system of family, friends, and a wicked impressive mom-squad which helps immensely. Spoon full of sugar, y’all. Also, that’s a good way to get your kid to take liquid Tylenol when they’re too old for the syringe, refuse the little medicine cup and spit out the chewables.]

SO how did we get to cinnamon rolls? We’ve been using Instacart (a grocery delivery service app) lately and it’s great except sometimes when an item is substituted I don’t pay close attention and accept a change without really looking. This is how I ended up with 10lbs of rice, and fresh buttermilk instead of powdered buttermilk this past Thursday. 

I’m at the point in all this where I’m a) scrambling to find activities to occupy Eva that also sort of teach her things, and b) doing messy craft or science projects gives me panic attacks. Unless they’re outside. Outside is fine. But we live in New England. ‘Nuff said. Thankfully, baking and cooking are messes that do not cause me to have aneurysms so using up a quart of buttermilk turned out to be easier than I thought… a chess pie here (2 cups of buttermilk), overnight cinnamon rolls there (one cup of buttermilk), and some cheesy biscuits (one cup of buttermilk) for good measure. Boom, no spoiled buttermilk here! 

I’m also noticing recipes that have long pauses between steps are great for Eva’s temperament. By the time she gets frustrated and needs a break (because while baking is not aneurysm-inducing I am still a control freak and have probably corrected her one too many times, or flat out said “omg stop you’re doing it wrong” or “are you even listening to me?” Hey, we all have our moments.) is when the dough needs to rise, or rest, or chill or soup needs to simmer, or.. you get the idea. She’s always really excited to see how what we’re making has changed.

This recipe was actually pretty fun to do with her.  She could help with most of the steps and was engaged the whole time. The promise of frosting for breakfast may have had something to do with that though..

Glamour shots: